Social network application programming interface

ABSTRACT

Disclosed in one example is a method for interfacing with multiple social networks. The method includes receiving a call from a social networking service agnostic social networking application for one of a plurality of social networking functions in a first format, translating the call in the first format to a call in a second format, the second format being one of a plurality of heterogeneous social networking service application programming interface formats, and passing the call in the second format to a first social networking service by utilizing a first social networking service application programming interface.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/077,394,filed on Mar. 31, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and dataas described below and in the drawings that form a part of thisdocument: Copyright Zynga, Inc, 2011. All Rights Reserved.

BACKGROUND

A social networking service is an online service, platform or site thatallows members to build or reflect social networks or social relationsamong members. Typically, members construct profiles, which may includepersonal information such as name, contact information, employmentinformation, photographs, personal messages, status information, linksto web related content, blogs, and so on. Typically, only a portion of amember's profile may be viewed by the general public and/or othermembers.

The social networking site allows members to identify and establishlinks or connections with other members in order to build or reflectsocial networks or social relations among members. For instance, in thecontext of a business networking service, a person may establish a linkor connection with his or her business contacts, including workcolleagues, clients, customers, and so on. With a social networkingservice, a person may establish links or connections with his or herfriends and family. A connection is generally formed using an invitationprocess in which one member “invites” a second member to form a link.The second member then has the option of accepting or declining theinvitation. If the second member accepts the invitation, the first andsecond members are connected.

In general, a connection or link may represent or may be otherwiseassociated with an information access privilege, such that a firstperson who has established a connection with a second person is, via theestablishment of that connection, authorizing the second person to viewor access non-publicly available portions of their profiles. Of course,depending on the particular implementation of the business/socialnetworking service, the nature and type of the information that may beshared as well as the granularity with which the access privileges maybe defined to protect certain types of data may vary greatly.

A variety of different social networking services have gainedpopularity, including FACEBOOK® of Palo Alto, Calif., MYSPACE® ofBeverly Hills, Calif. and run by News Corp., LINKEDIN® of Mountain View,Calif., TWITTER® of San Francisco, Calif., and the like. These sitesoften allow for third party applications to utilize certainfunctionality provided by the host social networking service. In someexamples, these third party applications may utilize certain userinterface (UI) elements of the social networking service, accesspersonal information about a user (including profile information), andsend and receive social interactions, such as messages, to the user ofthe third party application or to their connections. FACEBOOK®, forexample, allows developers to create applications which are integratedinto the FACEBOOK® user interface and with the FACEBOOK® socialnetworking system. In some examples, these applications may includegames such as CITYVILLE®, FARMVILLE®, and MAFIA WARS®, all developed byZYNGA®, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif. These applications appear in aFACEBOOK® page, and make use of various features of FACEBOOK®, such ascontacting friends to encourage them to join the game and play with theuser and the like.

The social networking services integrate with these applications byproviding to these applications an Application Programming Interface or“API.” In general, an API is a particular set of rules andspecifications that a software program may follow to access and make useof the services and resources provided by another particular softwareprogram that implements that API. The API serves as an interface betweendifferent software programs and facilitates their interaction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows in one example of the present disclosure a system showingsocial networking services, a network, a user terminal and a socialnetworking application service.

FIG. 2 shows in one example of the present disclosure a socialnetworking application.

FIG. 3 shows a method, according to one example of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a method, according to one example of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a method, according to one example of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 shows a method of translating SNAPI calls into social networkspecific calls, according to one example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a method of translating SNAPI calls into social networkspecific calls according to one example of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows one example of a client SNAPI module.

FIG. 9 shows one example of a server SNAPI module.

FIG. 10 shows one example of a machine implementation, according to oneexample.

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, butnot by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the presentdocument.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The API of one social network is not always the same as the API of adifferent social network. For example, the API format for FACEBOOK® isdifferent than the API format for MYSPACE®. Format differences includethe mechanism to submit the API requests (common methods include PHP,AJAX, HTML, or XML tags, JavaScript, and the like) and the structure ofthe requests (i.e. the arguments passed, their ordering, and the like).While the differences in the structures of the requests may often beaccounted for based on the different mechanisms used (e.g., a JavaScriptcall will be a different structure than a PHP call), even when themechanisms are the same, the structures of the requests often differbetween social networking services (e.g. the arguments passed and theorder in which they are passed to the social networking service will bedifferent). As a result, third party applications developed for socialnetworks that utilize the social networking APIs are typically socialnetworking service dependent.

For example, to post a message to another user in LINKEDIN®, a developermay POST an XML file to a particular URL in a particular format. Anexample of the LINKEDIN® messaging format is:

<?xml version=‘1.0’ encoding=‘UTF-8’?> <mailbox-item> <recipients><recipient> <person path=‘/people/~’/> </recipient> <recipient> <personpath=“/people/janedoe” /> </recipient> </recipients> <subject>Hello -Sample Message.</subject> <body>Hello World!</body> </mailbox-item>On the other hand, to post a message to another user on FACEBOOK®,developers utilze a JavaScript call according to a particular format.One example is:

FB.ui( { method: ‘feed’, name: ‘Facebook Dialogs’, link:‘http://someurl.com’, picture: ‘http://somepictureurl.jpg’, caption:‘Hello-Sample Message’, description: ‘Hello - Sample Message’, message:‘Hello World!’ }, function(response) { if (response && response.post_id){ alert(‘Post was published.’); } else { alert(‘Post was notpublished.’); } } );

Application developers that wish to develop applications for more thanone social network need to spend effort and expense in producing aseparate application for each social network. Additionally, any changesin the API of a social network will require retooling of allapplications written for that social network. Thus if a developer hasseveral applications written for a particular social network, eachapplication will have to be manually updated. Recognizing these issues,an effort has recently sprung up to try and provide a standardized APIfor social networking services. OpenSocial, run by GOOGLE®, of MountainView Calif. attempts to define a common API across multiple socialnetworks. This effort, however, requires that social networksstandardize their APIs to those defined by OpenSocial, many of whichhave not and will not do so.

Disclosed in one example is a system and method for facilitating thedevelopment of applications that may utilize the provided functions of anumber of disparate social networks. The system and method defines asocial networking service agnostic social networking applicationprogramming interface (SNAPI) that social networking applications maycall to provide various social networking service functionalities. TheSNAPI then converts these calls from the SNAPI format into a number ofsocial networking service-specific API formats. This conversion includesboth the method and the structure, including mapping the argumentspassed via the SNAPI call to the proper locations in the respectivenetwork specific API call. For example, a SNAPI call made in JavaScriptmay be converted to a valid social networking service API call in PHP.The arguments passed by the social networking application in the SNAPIJavaScript call may be used to fill in the arguments in the PHP socialnetworking service-specific API call. Both SNAPI and social networkingservice-specific API formats may include HTML or XML tags, JavaScriptcalls, PHP calls, Representative State Transfer (RESTful) calls, Pythoncalls, Perl calls, AJAX calls, and any other means for accessing an API.

FIG. 1 shows one example system 1000. Typically, a user, such as user1080, will access and communicate with one or more social networkingservices 1010-1030 through network 1040. In some examples, socialnetworking services 1010-1030 may include FACEBOOK®, MYSPACE®,LINKEDIN®, TWITTER®, and the like. In some examples, this communicationmay be done through the user terminal 1050. User terminal 1050, in someexamples, may include a personal computer (PC), laptop computer, tabletcomputer, smart phone or other cellular telephone, electronic bookreader, or any other device that allows a user to access thefunctionality of the social networking service. In some examples aninternet browser 1060 of the user terminal 1050 may be used to accessthe social networking services 1010-1030 using network 1040. Internetbrowser 1060, in some examples may include Internet Explorer® fromMicrosoft Corp., Redmond, Wash. Network 1040 may be any method by whichuser terminal 1050 may communicate with one or more social networkingservices 1010-1030. In some examples, network 1040 may include theinternet, a wide area network “WAN”, a local area network “LAN”,cellular network, or any other method of allowing the user terminal 1050to connect with the social networking service, and the like. While threesocial networking services are shown in FIG. 1 (1010-1030), it will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that the system and methods ofthe current disclosure are applicable to more or less than three socialnetworks.

Typically, when a user 1080 accesses a third party application (such asa game) associated with one of the social networking services 1010-1030,the user 1080 selects the application via the social networking service1010-1030, which then re-directs the user to access the application onanother server. In some examples, this server may be located on a socialnetworking application service 1090. The user's browser connects to theapplication server, downloads the application client, then displays orexecutes the application. In some examples, this social networkingapplication 1070 may be or include HTML, XML, JavaScript, Adobe Flash,Microsoft Silverlight, and the like. The social network 1010-1030 fromwhich the user selected the content may be called the host socialnetwork. The user's browser then executes or displays this socialnetworking application 1070 until the user 1080 decides to exit, or theapplication closes or otherwise ends.

In some examples, while the application 1070 executes, it communicateswith the host social networking service to which it is associated.Example communications include authenticating, authorizing, utilizingthe user interface elements of the host social network, obtaining socialnetwork information about user 1080 (such as connections with otherusers), sending messages to other users, and the like.

In some examples, social networking application 1070 may communicatewith social networking application service 1090. Social networkingapplication service 1090 may include various functions to assist socialnetworking application 1070. In some examples, social networkingapplication service 1090 may include application module 1100, whichstores and delivers to user terminals (including user terminal 1050)social networking application 1070 from data store 1130. In otherexamples, application module 1100 may contain execution logic for socialnetworking application 1070. Examples of this execution logic includeresponding to user actions and inputs; payment and purchasinginformation for purchasing the application or unlocking, accelerating,or making available various features in the application 1070; sendingmessages to and from various other users of the application; storingapplication data in data store 1130; providing various media files suchas graphics, video, and sound files; and the like. While socialnetworking application service 1090 is shown in FIG. 1 as one system,the components and the functionality of social networking applicationservice 1090 may be distributed across multiple systems.

In some examples, social networking application service 1090 includes aserver authentication module 1110, which works with clientauthentication module 2010 (FIG. 2) to authenticate or authorize socialnetworking application 1070 with a variety of social networking services1010-1030.

In some examples, social networking application service 1090 includes aserver social networking application programming interface module(server SNAPI module) 1120 which may assist client social networkingapplication programming interface module (client SNAPI) 2050 (FIG. 2) onsocial networking application 1070 in implementing the SNAPI. ServerSNAPI 1120 and client SNAPI 2050 will be discussed in more detail later.

One example social networking application 1070 is shown in FIG. 2. Asocial networking application 1070 is any application which utilizes, oris capable of utilizing, the API of one or more social networkingservices. In some examples social networking application 1070 maycontain an input/output module 2020. Input/output module 2020communicates with the user 1080, through user terminal 1050.Input/output module 2020 may be responsible for causing the userinterface of the social networking application 1070 to be displayed andfor handling user inputs.

Application logic module 2030, in some examples, may be responsible forimplementing the primary functions of the social networking application1070. For example, in the case of a game, the game logic and the gamerules are implemented by application logic module 2030. In someexamples, application logic module 2030 communicates with applicationmodule 1100 using communication module 2040 to communicate changes inapplication state and user interactions and to receive instructions forprocessing application events. In other examples, application logicmodule 2030 has all the logic necessary to process any application statechanges and user interactions and to handle application events. In yetother examples, application logic module 2030 has the logic necessaryfor handling some application state changes, user interactions andapplication events while the remaining functionality may be handled byapplication module 1100.

Communication module 2040 communicates with social networking service1010-1030 and social networking application service 1090. In someexamples, this communication may include network communication acrossnetwork 1040. A variety of methods of communication may be used,including AJAX, page loads, other HTTP communications, TCP sockets, UDPdatagrams, and the like.

Social networking application 1070 may include a client authenticationmodule 2010 for managing authentication with one or more socialnetworking services 1010-1030. Client authentication module 2010 workswith server authentication module 1110 of social networking applicationservice 1090 to perform authentication and authorization procedures withthe various social networks 1010-1030. Authentication and authorization,in some examples, includes user authentication, which provides theidentity of the user to the social networking service and theapplication associated with the social networking service;authorization, in which the user authorizes the social networkingapplication 1070 to access certain personal information and take certainactions; application authentication, which allows the social networkingservice to verify that a trusted application is asking for access and toprovide the requested level of access; and the like. In some examples,authentication and authorization with the social network are necessaryto utilize the various APIs of the social networking services 1010-1030.In some examples, when a user launches social networking application1070, client authentication module 2010 authenticates and authorizes thesocial networking application 1070 with the host social networkingservice. The host social networking service may then pass backauthentication information. In some examples, this authenticationinformation may be a token key that identifies a session. Clientauthentication module 2010 then passes this authentication informationto server authentication module 1110, which stores this information forlater use by other social networking applications, including othersocial networking applications that are hosted on different socialnetworking services. In general, the authentication information mayinclude any information necessary to utilize an application programminginterface on a social networking service.

Server authentication module 1110 of social networking applicationservice 1090 receives this authentication information. Serverauthentication module 1110 then stores this authentication informationin data store 1130. Server authentication module 1090 may then checkdata store 1130 for any other authentication information relating tothat user in other social networks 1010-1030 for the same or otherapplications. In some cases, the authentication information may berelated to a particular application available on multiple differentsocial networks, and in other cases it may be application independent.If any other social networks have valid authentication information,server authentication module 1110 may then send that authenticationinformation to client authentication module 2010 so that socialnetworking application 1070 may utilize the API of other socialnetworks.

Server authentication module 1110 may be responsible for determining ifuser 1080 has active sessions on social networking services other thanthe social networking service that is associated with the currentlyrunning social networking application 1070. Because different socialnetworks may have different user identification systems, in order toperform this association, server authentication module 1110 may use avariety of factors to associate the user 1080 of social networkingapplication 1070 with authentication and authorization informationpreviously stored in data store 1130. Some factors include member ID,name, social graphs (common friends), address, phone number, emailaddress, TWITTER® account, website links, bank accounts, credit cardinformation, and any other personal identifiable information. In yetother cases, the social networking application 1070 may prompt user 1080to identify any other user accounts on other social networking services.Once an association is found, the server authentication module 1110 maystore this association of user 1080 to the various social networkingservices for faster processing when looking up authenticationinformation in the future.

For example, if user 1080 is named “John Smith,” his phone number is“555-555-5555,” and he is a member of social networking service A 1010with member ID “1234” and social networking service B 1020 with memberID “5678” upon launching a social networking application 1070 associatedwith social networking service A 1010, social networking application1070 sends the authentication/authorization information to serverauthentication module 1110 along with identifying information for user1080. Server authentication module 1110 has no record of any othersessions for user 1080 and does not pass back any sessions to socialnetworking application 1070. Once user 1080 launches another socialnetworking application on social networking service B 1020, which alsocommunicates with social networking application service 1090, the serverauthentication module 1110 determines (based on items such as name,phone number, and other factors) that user 1080 has member account“1234” on social networking service A 1010 and “5678” on socialnetworking service B 1020. The association may be saved for later use,and the previous session on social networking service A 1010 may be sentto the calling social networking application.

In some examples, social networking application 1070 may include clientsocial networking application programming interface module 2050 (clientSNAPI module 2050). Client SNAPI module 2050 frees social networkingapplication 1070 from being specific to one particular social networkingservice 1010-1030 by providing a standardized API that may then mappedto a variety of disparate social networking API calls. Thus, clientSNAPI module 2050 takes as input a social networking service-independentAPI call from other components of social networking application 1070 andconverts those SNAPI calls into social networking service-specific APIcalls for a variety of social networking services. New social networkingservices may be added or the API for a social networking service may bemodified and the only impacted change would be client SNAPI module 2050and/or server SNAPI module 1120.

In some examples, the client SNAPI module 2050 converts the SNAPI callinto the API format of the host social network. In other examples, theclient SNAPI module 2050 may convert the SNAPI call into the API formatof multiple social networks, such that SNAPI allows for communicationacross social networking services 1010-1030. In this way, an applicationhosted on one social networking service may communicate with, or utilizethe APIs of, one or more other social networking services. In someexamples, this may allow the social networking application to aggregateinformation about user 1080 and allow user 1080 access to all of user1080's connections.

Supporting many social networks 1010-1030 may result in a large amountof code in the client SNAPI module 2050, which may result in largesocial networking application 1070 load times as well as memory or otherperformance issues. In some examples, the client SNAPI module 2050 mayinclude a number of translation modules that convert the SNAPI formattedcall to one or more social networking service-specific API calls. Thetranslation modules may convert one or more SNAPI calls into one or moreAPI calls for one or more social networking services. In some examples,the client SNAPI module 2050 only loads certain translation modules inorder to minimize application size and load times. The particulartranslation modules to be loaded may be selected based upon a number offactors, including the translation modules selected by the socialnetworking application 1070 or the user 1080, the translation modulesnecessary to convert SNAPI calls to the host social network API calls,the translation modules necessary to support conversion of the SNAPIcalls to the social network API calls of the social networks to whichthe user has an active session, or any other selection criteria. In thisway, the client SNAPI module 2050 may dynamically adjust to provide theSNAPI services while minimizing performance degradation.

In some cases, the social networking application 1070 may be implementedas an IFRAME on the social networking service 1010-1030. In some cases,browser or social networking service restrictions prevent communicationby social networking application 1070 to any host besides the serverwhere the social networking application 1070 was originally downloaded,which in some examples would be social networking application service1090. In these cases, certain calls to social networking services1010-1030 may be sent from the client SNAPI module 2050 of socialnetworking application 1070 to the server SNAPI module 1120 of socialnetworking application services 1090 in order to work around theserestrictions. The server SNAPI module 1120 takes the API call sent bythe client SNAPI module 2050, translates it, and issues it to thecorrect social networking service 1010-1030. The server SNAPI module1120 also processes any replies from social networking service 1010-1030and forwards replies to the client SNAPI module 2050. In some cases, theserver SNAPI module 1120 and the client SNAPI module 2050 communicatedirectly through local PHP methods. In some examples, the client SNAPImodule 2050 makes a remote request for a SNAPI call by utilizing PHP toperform an HTTP query to a URL associated with the server SNAPI module1120. The server SNAPI module 1120 recognizes the post, reads thequery's parameters and processes the request.

FIG. 3 shows one example method of the present disclosure. At 3010, auser logs onto a social network 1010-1030. Usually, this requires theuser to enter certain identification and authentication information. Insome examples, this may be a username and a password. At operation 3020,the user selects an application from the social network. In someexamples, the application may be a game, a productivity application suchas a word processor, a spreadsheet, or messaging application, amarketplace application, a media application, a dating application, andany other application that may be associated with a social networkingservice. In other examples, the user may visit social networkingapplication service 1090, which may then prompt the user 1080 to loginto one of the social networking services 1010-1030 through the use ofcertain authentication and authorization APIs provided by socialnetworking services 1010-1030.

At operation 3030, the user's browser may be directed by the socialnetworking service to fetch or download an application from anapplication module 1100 on a social networking application service 1090.In some examples, the application may be displayed in an IFRAME HTMLelement. In operation 3040, the application executes on a user'scomputer or terminal 1050.

Turning now to FIG. 4, at operation 4010, the social networkingapplication client authentication module 2010 authenticates andauthorizes with the host social networking service, receivingauthentication information in return.

In some examples, this social networking application clientauthentication module 2010 validates the session information atoperation 4020 by ensuring that the authentication information has notexpired and is correctly formed. At operation 4030, the authenticationinformation may then be passed to the social network application serviceserver authentication module 1110 in order to store the sessioninformation and to signal social networking application service serverauthentication module 1110 to send to the social networking applicationclient authentication module 2010 the authentication information ofother social networks in order to allow API calls to other socialnetworks.

FIG. 5 shows one example server authentication module method. Atoperation 5010, the server authentication module 1110 validates theauthentication information sent by client authentication module 2010.This validation process, in some examples, may be the same or similar tothat of client authentication module 2010. Server authentication module1110 then stores the authentication information in data store 1130.Server authentication module 1110 then checks for any other validauthentication information for other social networks, at operation 5020.If any are found, the server authentication module 1110 may sendinformation regarding that authentication information to clientauthentication module, at operation 5030, so the client authenticationmodule 2010 may utilize the API of those social networking services.

Turning now to FIG. 6, in some examples the social networkingapplication loads only the parts (i.e. translation modules) of thesocial networking application client SNAPI module 2050 used to transformthe SNAPI calls into the various social networking service 1010-1030 APIcalls at operation 6010. As already mentioned, in some examples, onlythose translation modules of client SNAPI module 2050 are loaded thatare needed to translate SNAPI calls into native social networking APIcalls on the various social networking services on which an activesession is found. In some examples, client SNAPI code may be aJavaScript or other code module loaded from the social networkingapplication service 1090. In some examples, each translation module ofclient SNAPI module 2050 handles a specific social networking service1010-1030; that is, it transforms all SNAPI calls into the correspondingnative social networking API calls for one social networking service1010-1030. In other examples, each translation module may handletranslating SNAPI calls into multiple social networking services1010-1030. In yet other examples, one module may handle a subset ofSNAPI calls for a particular social networking service 1010-1030.

In some examples, once the requisite SNAPI translation modules areloaded, the application logic executes in operation 6020. In someexamples, if no authentication information is found, no SNAPItranslation modules are loaded and the application terminates. In otherexamples, if no authentication information is found, then theapplication requests that the host social networking service refresh thesession information. In still other examples, the application continuesbut without certain functionality utilizing the social features of thesocial networking application.

In operation 6030, the social networking application makes a request fora social networking function. An example social networking function mayinclude requesting that a social network provide a list of a user'ssocial connections. The request may be formatted as a social networkingservice-independent SNAPI API call. This format may be the sameregardless of what social networking service the application isassociated with and regardless of which social networking serviceexecutes the API call.

In some examples, certain API calls are executed remotely on serverSNAPI module 1120 on social networking application service 1090. In somecases, this may be done to avoid browser or other security settings orother restrictions on the social networking application 1070. In otherexamples, this may be done to speed processing. For example, if socialnetworking application 1070 queries all social networks 1010-1030 for alist of user 1080's connections, sending the queries and waiting for thereplies might delay social networking application 1070 unacceptably. Inthese cases, server SNAPI module 1120 may assist client SNAPI module2050 in making these API calls.

In operation 6040, in some examples, the client SNAPI module 2050 maydetermine whether a remote call or a local call may be made. In someexamples, the determination may be made based on a predefined list ofSNAPI calls that are to be made by client SNAPI module 2050, and apredefined list of SNAPI calls that are to be made by server SNAPImodule 1120. In other examples, certain social networking services1010-1030 are handled locally, while others are handled remotely. In yetother examples, the host social networking service may be handledlocally, while others are handled remotely. In yet other examples, thedetermination of whether the call is remotely or locally executed isdetermined dynamically. Client SNAPI module 2050 may keep track of theSNAPI calls that are taking a long time to get a response from thesocial networking service and begin sending those calls to server SNAPImodule 1120 so as not to delay execution of the social networkingapplication 1070.

If the call is to be handled locally, in operation 6050, the SNAPImodule determines the correct SNAPI translation or code module ormodules, and passes the SNAPI call to each appropriate SNAPI translationmodule. In some examples, there may be multiple SNAPI translationmodules that are called. This is because the application may wish toutilize the functionality of multiple social networks. For example, theapplication may wish to send messages to users who have connections tothe user 1080 on different social networking services 1010-1030. Thus,the SNAPI call facilitates sending messages to other users withconnections to user 1080 on social networking services 1010-1030.

In operation 6060, once the translation modules are determined for localcalls, and the SNAPI calls are passed into them, the SNAPI translationmodules utilize the parameters passed into them by the SNAPI call andconstruct a social network service-particular API call. Thus in someexamples, the translation modules construct a FACEBOOK® API call or aLINKEDIN® API call based on the particular formats of their respectiveAPIs. SNAPI client module 2050 then executes the particular API call. Insome examples, this may be a JavaScript call. Other example API callsinclude using Representational State Transfer (RESTful) APIs utilizing,in some examples, HTTP GET, POST, and PUT requests to various URLs ofthe social networking service, and in other examples the API may beexecuted via a PHP call, and the like.

If the SNAPI API call is remote, the client SNAPI module 2050communicates the request to the server SNAPI module 1120 on the socialnetworking application service 1090 at operation 6070. In some examples,the client SNAPI module 2050 utilizes AJAX to make an HTTP request tothe URL address associated with the social networking applicationservice 1090. Other examples include using a specially designedprotocol, FTP, TCP sockets, UDP, Internet Messaging Protocol, InternetRelay Chat, Post Office Protocol, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, and thelike. Any means of communicating the SNAPI request to server SNAPImodule 1120 on social networking application service 1090 may be used.

One example method showing how the social networking application serviceserver SNAPI module 1120 handles SNAPI calls is shown in FIG. 7. Thecall may be made by the client SNAPI module 2050 on the socialnetworking application at operation 7010. At operation 7020 the serverSNAPI module 1120 receives the SNAPI call. At operation 7030, the serverSNAPI module 1120 determines the appropriate SNAPI translation module totranslate the SNAPI calls to the specific social networking API calls ina similar manner to the client SNAPI module 2050 on the socialnetworking application. At operation 7040, the translation modulestranslate the SNAPI calls into social network specific API calls. Atoperation 7050, the server SNAPI module 1120 on the social networkingapplication service executes the social networking service API calls. Insome examples this may be a JavaScript call. Other example API callsinclude using Representational State Transfer (RESTful) APIs utilizingin some examples: HTTP GET, POST, and PUT requests to various URLs ofthe social networking service, and in other examples the API may beexecuted via. a PHP call, HTML or XML tags, and the like. In operation7060, the SNAPI module on the social networking application servicesends any reply from the social networking service back to the clientSNAPI module 2050.

FIG. 8 shows one example client SNAPI module 2050 of a social networkingapplication 1070. SNAPI call 8010 may be passed into the client SNAPImodule 2050 and then validated with validator 8020. Validator 8020validates the parameters of the API call. If the call is invalid, anerror may be returned. If the call is valid, then multiplexor 8030determines which social networks are the targets of the request. Themultiplexor selects social networks that are the target of the requestbased upon a number of factors which may include: the parameterscontained in the SNAPI call, the social networks that have sessioninformation available, the type of call (e.g., some social networkingservices may not support all SNAPI calls, or it may not be desirable tocall all social networking services capable of such calls), the hostsocial networking service, the presence or absence of social connectionson a specific network, a per-user configuration specifying whether tosend calls to all networks or just the current host network, userpreferences, and the like. In some examples, some social networkingservice calls will be processed locally by translator 8060. In thiscase, translator 8060 converts the SNAPI calls into JavaScript API calls8070 of social network C 1030 and then executes those calls. In otherexamples, the social networking calls will be made remotely by remotetranslators 8040. In some examples, remote translators 8040 pass theSNAPI API calls to the social networking application server via PHP atmodule 8050. While calls to social network C in this example are handledlocally, and calls to social networking service A 1010 and B 1020 arehandled remotely, in other examples, some calls to social networkingservice A 1010 and B 1020 may be handled locally depending on therequested functionality, while some calls for social network C 1030 maybe handled remotely depending on the requested functionality. Forexample, some user interface API calls for the various social networksA-C 1010-1030 may be handled locally by local translator 8060, whileother API calls relating to say, messaging, may be handled remotely byremote translators 8040. While two translators are shown in FIG. 8 forsimplicity, more may be added to support additional SNAPI calls andadditional social networking services.

Turning now to FIG. 9, an example server SNAPI module 1120 on the socialnetworking application service 1090 is shown. The SNAPI call from thesocial networking application 9010 may be multiplexed by the multiplexor9020 into one or more translators 9030, 9050. In some examples, onlytranslator 9030 will be selected by multiplexor 9020; in other examples,only translator 9050 will be selected. In yet other examples, both 9030and 9050 will be selected. Each translator 9030, 9050 then translatesthe particular SNAPI call into a social network-specific API call 9040,9060. These API calls may then be sent to the desired social networkingservice 1010-1030 for processing. As with the client SNAPI module 2050,each translator 9030, 9050 may translate SNAPI calls exclusively for aparticular social networking service API, a subset of SNAPI calls for aparticular API, or SNAPI calls for multiple social networking serviceAPIs. While two translators are shown in FIG. 9 for simplicity, more maybe added to support additional SNAPI calls and additional socialnetworking services.

In some examples, SNAPI modules 2050 and 1120 may provide for certainsocial networking service API functionality. For example, socialnetworking application 1070 may utilize, or wish to utilize, certain APIfunctionality of a particular social networking service that is notprovided by other social networking services. In some examples, thisfunctionality may be common for most social networking services, but notimplemented by some other social networking services. In some examples,this functionality includes certain user interface elements. One exampleis a multi-connection selector. This user interface element displays abox with a list of the social connections (or “friends”) associated withthe user of the social networking application. The user may then selecta number of these connections to whom they wish to send a message, gift,or other interaction. In FACEBOOK®, this is called a multi-friendselector. Other examples include plates, profile pictures, like buttons,single target request buttons, profile information widgets that displaycertain sections of a user's profile or certain sections of theirconnection's profiles, feed widgets that embed a stream of social eventsand posts pertaining to a specific user or item of interest, and thelike. A widget is a module of re-usable code that implements a graphicaluser interface and optionally receives user input and/or displays data.

In some examples, social networking applications utilize the SNAPIprovided functionality by using JavaScript SNAPI calls. In otherexamples, the application may make use of special HTML or XML tags. Insome examples, when client SNAPI module 2050 loads, it replaces the HTMLor XML tags and JavaScript API calls with JavaScript, HTML, or othercode that actually implements the provided functionality. In yet otherexamples, SNAPI module 2050 checks to see if the host social networkingservice provides such functionality, and instead of replacing the SNAPIcall with the SNAPI implementation, it replaces the SNAPI call with theAPI call of the host social networking service. For example, if thesocial networking application had an HTML or XML tag that specified theapplication would like a multi-friend selector to be displayed, and thehost social networking service is FACEBOOK®, then SNAPI module 2050would replace the SNAPI XML tag with a FACEBOOK® markup (FBML) tag toimplement the multi-friend selector. In other examples, even on socialnetworking services that implement the various user interface “UI”features, the SNAPI module 2050 may still use the SNAPI implementationto provide a consistent look and feel to applications across socialnetworking services 1010-1030.

Various Other Notes and Examples

Disclosed in one example is a method for interfacing with multiplesocial networks. The method may include receiving a call from a socialnetworking service agnostic social networking application for one of aplurality of social networking functions in a first format, translatingthe call in the first format to a call in a second format, the secondformat being one of a plurality of heterogeneous social networkingservice application programming interface formats, the translating doneusing at least one computer processor. The method may also includepassing the call in the second format to a first social networkingservice by utilizing a first social networking service applicationprogramming interface.

Disclosed in another example is a system for interfacing with multiplesocial networks. The system may include a social networking serviceagnostic social networking application configured to utilize a pluralityof social networking functions, and a translation module implemented onat least one computer processor and configured to: receive a call fromthe social networking service agnostic social networking application forone of the plurality of social networking functions in a first format;translate the call in a first format to a call in a second format, thesecond format being one of a plurality of heterogeneous socialnetworking service application programming interface formats; and passthe call in the second format to a first social networking service byutilizing a first social networking service application programminginterface.

Disclosed in yet another example is a machine readable storage mediumthat stores instructions which when performed by a machine, causes themachine to perform various operations. These operations may includereceiving a call from a social networking service agnostic socialnetworking application for one of a plurality of social networkingfunctions in a first format, translating the call in the first format toa call in a second format, the second format being one of a plurality ofheterogeneous social networking service application programminginterface formats, and passing the call in the second format to a firstsocial networking service by utilizing a first social networking serviceapplication programming interface.

These examples may be combined in any permutation or combination. Thisoverview is intended to provide an overview of subject matter of thepresent patent application. It is not intended to provide an exclusiveor exhaustive explanation of the invention. The detailed description isincluded to provide further information about the present patentapplication.

Modules, Components, and Logic

Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a numberof components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may constitute eithersoftware modules (e.g., code embodied (1) on a non-transitorymachine-readable medium or (2) in a transmission signal) orhardware-implemented modules. A hardware-implemented module is tangibleunit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured orarranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or morecomputer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system)or one or more processors may be configured by software (e.g., anapplication or application portion) as a hardware-implemented modulethat operates to perform certain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware-implemented module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware-implementedmodule may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanentlyconfigured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC)) to perform certain operations. A hardware-implementedmodule may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., asencompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmableprocessor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certainoperations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement ahardware-implemented module mechanically, in dedicated and permanentlyconfigured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g.,configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware-implemented module” should be understoodto encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired) or temporarily ortransitorily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certainmanner and/or to perform certain operations described herein.Considering embodiments in which hardware-implemented modules aretemporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware-implemented modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware-implementedmodules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software,the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware-implemented modules at different times. Software mayaccordingly configure a processor, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware-implemented module at one instance of time and toconstitute a different hardware-implemented module at a differentinstance of time.

Hardware-implemented modules may provide information to, and receiveinformation from, other hardware-implemented modules. Accordingly, thedescribed hardware-implemented modules may be regarded as beingcommunicatively coupled. Where multiple of such hardware-implementedmodules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved throughsignal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) thatconnect the hardware-implemented modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware-implemented modules are configured or instantiated atdifferent times, communications between such hardware-implementedmodules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrievalof information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware-implemented modules have access. For example, onehardware-implemented module may perform an operation, and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware-implemented module may then,at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process thestored output. Hardware-implemented modules may also initiatecommunications with input or output devices, and may operate on aresource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of amethod may be performed by one or processors or processor-implementedmodules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributedamong the one or more processors, not only residing within a singlemachine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exampleembodiments, the processor or processors may be located in a singlelocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as aserver farm), while in other embodiments the processors may bedistributed across a number of locations.

The one or more processors may also operate to support performance ofthe relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a“software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of theoperations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples ofmachines including processors), these operations being accessible via anetwork (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces(e.g., Application Program Interfaces (APIs).)

Electronic Apparatus and System

Example embodiments may be implemented in digital electronic circuitry,or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them.Example embodiments may be implemented using a computer program product,e.g., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier,e.g., in a machine-readable medium for execution by, or to control theoperation of, data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor,a computer, or multiple computers.

A computer program may be written in any form of programming language,including compiled or interpreted languages, and it may be deployed inany form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, subroutine,or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computerprogram may be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiplecomputers at one site or distributed across multiple sites andinterconnected by a communication network.

In example embodiments, operations may be performed by one or moreprogrammable processors executing a computer program to performfunctions by operating on input data and generating output. Methodoperations may also be performed by, and apparatus of exampleembodiments may be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry,e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC).

The computing system may include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other. Inembodiments deploying a programmable computing system, it will beappreciated that that both hardware and software architectures requireconsideration. Specifically, it will be appreciated that the choice ofwhether to implement certain functionality in permanently configuredhardware (e.g., an ASIC), in temporarily configured hardware (e.g., acombination of software and a programmable processor), or a combinationof permanently and temporarily configured hardware may be a designchoice. Below are set out hardware (e.g., machine) and softwarearchitectures that may be deployed, in various example embodiments.

Example Machine Implementation

FIG. 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exampleform of a computer system 10000 within which a set of instructions forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methods,processes, operations, or methodologies discussed herein may beexecuted. In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as astandalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in thecapacity of a server or a client machine in server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine may be a Personal Computer (PC), atablet PC, a Set-Top Box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), acellular telephone, a Web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge,or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Example embodimentsmay also be practiced in distributed system environments where local andremote computer systems which that are linked (e.g., either byhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired and wirelessconnections) through a network, both perform tasks. In a distributedsystem environment, program modules may be located in both local andremote memory-storage devices (see below).

The example computer system 10000 includes a processor 10002 (e.g., aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) orboth), a main memory 10001 and a static memory 10006, which communicatewith each other via a bus 10008. The computer system 10000 may furtherinclude a video display unit 10010 (e.g., a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)or a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)). The computer system 10000 may also includean alphanumeric input device 10012 (e.g., a keyboard), a User Interface(UI) cursor controller 10014 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 10016, asignal generation device 10018 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interfacedevice 10020 (e.g., a transmitter). In other examples, the machine mayinclude a touch-sensitive display.

The disk drive unit 10016 includes a machine-readable medium 10022 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions 10024 and datastructures (e.g., software) embodying or used by any one or more of themethodologies or functions illustrated herein. The software may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 10001and/or within the processor 10002 during execution thereof by thecomputer system 10000, the main memory 10001 and the processor 10002also constituting machine-readable media.

The instructions 10024 may further be transmitted or received over anetwork 10026 via the network interface device 10020 using any one of anumber of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., HTTP, Session InitiationProtocol (SIP)).

The term “machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a singlemedium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets ofinstructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken toinclude any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying aset of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause themachine to perform any of the one or more of the methodologiesillustrated herein. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordinglybe taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, andoptical and magnetic media.

Method embodiments illustrated herein may be computer-implemented. Someembodiments may include computer-readable media encoded with a computerprogram (e.g., software), which includes instructions operable to causean electronic device to perform methods of various embodiments. Asoftware implementation (or computer-implemented method) may includemicrocode, assembly language code, or a higher-level language code,which further may include computer readable instructions for performingvarious methods. The code may form portions of computer programproducts. Further, the code may be tangibly stored on one or morevolatile or non-volatile computer-readable media during execution or atother times. These computer-readable media may include, but are notlimited to, hard disks, removable magnetic disks, removable opticaldisks (e.g., compact disks and digital video disks), magnetic cassettes,memory cards or sticks, Random Access Memories (RAMs), Read OnlyMemories (ROMs), and the like.

Additional Notes

The above detailed description includes references to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawingsshow, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. These embodiments are also referred toherein as “examples.” Such examples may include elements in addition tothose shown or described. However, the present inventors alsocontemplate examples in which only those elements shown or described areprovided. Moreover, the present inventors also contemplate examplesusing any combination or permutation of those elements shown ordescribed (or one or more aspects thereof), either with respect to aparticular example (or one or more aspects thereof), or with respect toother examples (or one or more aspects thereof) shown or describedherein.

All publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in thisdocument are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, asthough individually incorporated by reference. In the event ofinconsistent usages between this document and those documents soincorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s)should be considered supplementary to that of this document; forirreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one, independent of any otherinstances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In thisdocument, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unlessotherwise indicated. In this document, the terms “including” and “inwhich” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms“comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, the terms“including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system, device,article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listedafter such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scopeof that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms “first,”“second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and are notintended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

Method examples described herein may be machine or computer-implementedat least in part. Some examples may include a computer-readable mediumor machine-readable medium encoded with instructions operable toconfigure an electronic device to perform methods as described in theabove examples. An implementation of such methods may include code, suchas microcode, assembly language code, a higher-level language code, orthe like. Such code may include computer readable instructions forperforming various methods. The code may form portions of computerprogram products. Further, in an example, the code may be tangiblystored on one or more volatile, non-transitory, or non-volatile tangiblecomputer-readable media, such as during execution or at other times.Examples of these tangible computer-readable media may include, but arenot limited to, hard disks, removable magnetic disks, removable opticaldisks (e.g., compact disks and digital video disks), magnetic cassettes,memory cards or sticks, random access memories (RAMs), read onlymemories (ROMs), and the like.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Otherembodiments may be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the artupon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), to allow thereader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. Itis submitted with the understanding that it will not be used tointerpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be groupedtogether to streamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted asintending that an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim.Rather, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of aparticular disclosed embodiment.

Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separateembodiment, and it is contemplated that such embodiments may be combinedwith each other in various combinations or permutations. The scope ofthe invention should be determined with reference to the appendedclaims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claimsare entitled.

1. A method for interfacing with multiple social networks, the methodcomprising: receiving a first function call in a first format from asocial networking application, the social networking application beingindependent of a social networking service; determining that the firstfunction call is to be translated at a location local to the socialnetworking application as opposed to a location remote from the socialnetworking application; and based on the determination that thetranslation is to be handled at a local location; translating, at thelocal location, the first function call from the first format into asocial networking service application programming interface specificformat of a first social networking service, the translating being doneusing at least one computer processor; and passing the translated firstfunction call to the first social networking service by utilizing asocial networking service application programming interface of the firstsocial networking service.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving a second function call in the first format from the socialnetworking application; translating the second function call from thefirst format into a social networking service application programminginterface specific format of a second social networking service, thetranslating being done using at least one computer processor; andpassing the translated second function call to the second socialnetworking service by utilizing a social networking service applicationprogramming interface of the second social networking service.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: translating the first functioncall from the first format into a social networking service applicationprogramming interface specific format of a second social networkingservice, the translating being done using at least one computerprocessor; and passing the translated first function call to the secondsocial networking service by utilizing a social networking serviceapplication programming interface of the second social networkingservice.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the determination is madebased upon at least one of: a predefined list of social networkingfunctions to be handled locally and a parameter sent along with thefirst function call.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstfunction call is a call to determine the connections associated with auser.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first function call is acall to send a message to connections associated with a user.
 7. Asystem for interfacing with multiple social networks comprising: atleast one computer processor; a social networking service independentsocial networking application; and a translation module implemented onthe at least one computer processor and configured to: receive a firstfunction call in a first format from a social networking application,the social networking application being independent of a socialnetworking service; determine that the first function call is to betranslated at a location local to the social networking application asopposed to a location remote from the social networking application; andbased on the determination that the translation is to be handled at thelocal location; translate, at the local location, the first functioncall from the first format into a social networking service applicationprogramming interface specific format of a first social networkingservice; and pass the translated first function call to the first socialnetworking service by utilizing a social networking service applicationprogramming interface of the first social networking service.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7, the translation module configured to: receive asecond function call in the first format from the social networkingapplication; translate the second function call from the first formatinto a social networking service application programming interfacespecific format of a second social networking service; and pass thetranslated second function call to the second social networking serviceby utilizing a social networking service application programminginterface of the second social networking service.
 9. The system ofclaim 7, the translation module configured to: translate the firstfunction call from the first format into a social networking serviceapplication programming interface specific format of a second socialnetworking service; and pass the translated first function call to thesecond social networking service by utilizing a social networkingservice application programming interface of the second socialnetworking service.
 10. The system of claim 7 wherein the translationmodule is further configured to determine that the first function callis to be handled at the location local to the social network applicationbased upon at least one of: a predefined list of social networkingfunctions to be handled locally and a parameter sent along with thefirst function call.
 11. The system of claim 7, wherein the firstfunction call is a function call to determine the connections associatedwith a user.
 12. The system of claim 7, wherein the first function callis a function call to send a message to connections associated with auser.
 13. A machine readable storage medium that stores instructionswhich when performed by a machine, cause the machine to performoperations comprising: receiving a first function call in a first formatfrom a social networking application, the social networking applicationbeing independent of a social networking service; determining that thefirst function call is to be translated at a location local to thesocial networking application as opposed to a location remote from thesocial networking application; and based on the determination that thetranslation is to be handled at the local location; translating, at thelocal location, the first function call from the first format into asocial networking service application programming interface specificformat of a first social networking service, the translating being doneusing at least one computer processor; and passing the translated firstfunction call to the first social networking service by utilizing asocial networking service application programming interface of the firstsocial networking service.
 14. The machine readable storage medium ofclaim 13 wherein the instructions, which when performed by the machine,cause the machine to perform operations further comprising: receiving asecond function call in the first format from the social networkingapplication; translating the second function call from the first formatinto a social networking service application programming interfacespecific format of a second social networking service, the translatingbeing done using at least one computer processor; and passing thetranslated second function call to the second social networking serviceby utilizing a social networking service application programminginterface of the second social networking service.
 15. The machinereadable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the instructions, which whenperformed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operationsfurther comprising: translating the first function call from the firstformat into a social networking service application programminginterface specific format of a second social networking service, thetranslating being done using at least one computer processor; andpassing the translated first function call to the second socialnetworking service by utilizing a social networking service applicationprogramming interface of the second social networking service.
 16. Themachine readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the determining ismade based upon at least one of: a predefined list of social networkingfunctions to be handled locally and a parameter sent along with thefirst function call.
 17. The machine readable storage medium of claim13, wherein the first function call is a function call to determine theconnections associated with a user.